


Five Weeks

by Jain



Category: Psych
Genre: 5 Things, Community: purimgifts, F/F, First Time, POV Third Person, Past Tense
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2010-02-24
Updated: 2010-02-24
Packaged: 2017-10-07 12:30:14
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 972
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/65173
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Jain/pseuds/Jain





	Five Weeks

**Author's Note:**

  * For [trascendenza](https://archiveofourown.org/users/trascendenza/gifts).



**Week 1**

There was a new woman in the YWCA gym when Juliet arrived, a little breathless from having to run in order not to be late (no matter that half the class was likely to be even later); she was standing half in profile and talking to the program coordinator. She was also dressed in sweats and sneakers and had her hair pulled back into a ponytail, obviously ready for her first session, and Juliet allowed herself a quick internal fistpump. Or rather, she did until she got closer and realized that she knew the woman already.

Juliet plastered a somewhat stiff smile onto her face and made herself go over to greet her. "Abigail, hi!" she said with forced enthusiasm. "It's nice to see you here. You've signed up for the class?"

Abigail turned toward her with a look of obvious surprise. "Juliet! Um, yeah, my dad's been getting kind of vocally anxious about my being 'a woman on my own,'--" she provided the airquotes "--which on the one hand is ridiculous, but on the other made me think that I should maybe get around to taking a self-defense class like I've been promising myself I would for the past ten years." She frowned a little. "I'm surprised to see you here, though. Didn't you get plenty of self-defense training in the police academy?"

"Oh, well," Juliet said with an embarrassed shrug. "I'm actually the instructor."

"...And that makes a lot more sense than my original thought," Abigail said. "So, teaching self-defense classes is the Juliet O'Hara version of community service?"

"Yeah, kind of. I mean, I do get paid a stipend, but--"

"But ten dollars per person for five one-hour sessions isn't exactly reason to quit your day job," Abigail finished.

Juliet smiled at her, feeling the expression come more easily to her face. "Exactly." The last few members of the class trickled through the door just then, so she pointed to the front of the room and said, "I need to go get this started. I'm really glad you came, though," and, surprisingly, she even meant it.

**Week 2**

"Hey, nice job!" Juliet said, trying to sound more congratulatory than astonished, as Abigail finished demonstrating a series of defensive kicks.

Abigail brushed back a lock of sweaty hair that had fallen from her ponytail. "Thanks. I do ballet, and I think it actually helps. Also, kickboxing."

Juliet grinned at her. "Yeah, I can see how that might be an advantage."

**Week 3**

"You know, I haven't seen you around the station or, well, any crime scenes lately," Juliet said. "Not that you really need an excuse for wanting to avoid dead bodies, or anything, but I was kind of wondering if there was something else going on. Like, possibly, someone making you feel--completely inadvertently!--that you...didn't belong there?"

Abigail made a face. "You could say that. Shawn and I broke up a couple months ago."

"Oh!" Juliet boggled a little, torn between relief that she wasn't responsible for Abigail's absence at the SBPD and shock at her confession. "I'm sorry, I didn't know."

Abigail shook her head. "It's fine. For all that Shawn never stops talking, he doesn't usually _say_ much. I'm not surprised that he didn't tell you."

"That definitely sounds like Shawn," Juliet said with an amused snort.

"Yeah. So, you know, the field's open."

She didn't sound upset at all, but Juliet blushed anyway. "Oh. Well. It's not that--"

"It's fine," Abigail interrupted, which was a very good thing since Juliet had no idea how she was going to end that sentence. "I'll see you next week."

"Yeah, okay. I'll see you then."

**Week 4**

"Whoa!"

Juliet stopped hitting the punching bag to glance towards the door, where Abigail had just come in, twenty minutes before the class was due to begin.

"Got a bit of pent-up aggression?"

She let out a deep breath and nodded. "Putting guys away for seven year sentences, knowing that even that's going to be reduced to four with good behavior, and then they'll be back out hurting more innocent people, can get pretty frustrating."

"Yeah, I'll bet." Abigail gave her a wryly sympathetic look. "You want to talk about it?"

"...Not really. I appreciate the thought, but I don't think talking would help."

"Okay. Do you want me to hold the bag for you?"

Juliet found herself smiling despite herself. "_That_ might help. That would be great, thank you."

**Week 5**

"Hey, before I go, I wanted to let you know that I really enjoyed this class. You did a great job teaching it, and I really learned a lot."

Juliet felt her face warm with the compliment. "Oh, wow. Thanks! I'm glad you enjoyed it."

"Yeah. So...I guess I'll see you around sometime?"

"Right. See you." There was a moment when Juliet wasn't sure if she might not just leave it like that, and then she took a fortifying breath and said, "Wait a sec. Abigail."

Abigail paused on her way to the door. "Yeah?"

"I was wondering...and you can totally say 'no,' with no hard feelings, not that we see each other enough that that would matter, but especially since I don't know if you...well...anyway... Do you want to go for coffee?"

Abigail raised an eyebrow. "Go for coffee as in two friends sharing a caramel macchiato, or go for coffee as in a date?"

"Either. Both." Juliet gave her a nervous smile. "I could go either way."

Before the tension could get _too_ unbearable, Abigail grinned back at her and nodded. "Yeah, sure. 'Both' works for me. Are you free now, or should we get together later this week?"

Juliet's heart fluttered with some combination of lingering nerves and growing excitement. "Now's fine. Now's great."

"Okay, then. It's a date."


End file.
